Finding an unlocked phone in Japan is not an easy undertaking. None of the big service providers( Softbank, Docomo, AU) will sell you one without a plan.
I woke up at 6am trying to scour the internet for a solution, and with some help from back home, I see from a foreign blog post that Bic Camera can hook you up. There are locations all over Japan, with one located conveniently near my hotel. Since I am directionless without my phone, I take a taxi there for about 1300 yen. However, when I get there, I am told that this location does not provide this service. The sales attendant is struggling to provide a solution, and seeing that I am visibly upset (I have no way of contacting my family, because all of the information is on the phone that I can now no longer access), he spends about 30 to 40 minutes on the phone.
Finally, he tells me that there is one Bic Camera location that can assist me. But it is far. By far, I mean in Ginza, which is about 40 minutes away by car from where I am. At this point, I just want to throw money at the situation to make it better because I am pretty screwed otherwise. A 6000 yen cab ride brings me to the Bic Camera location. The sales attendant is very helpful in assisting me to make sure I select the right phone that will be compatible with the Canadian networks when I arrive home. I was starting to panic, because it looked like the cost of an unlocked phone would cost me around $1000 Canadian dollars. At the end of the day, I spent around 22,650 yen including the cab rides.
This is my shiny new phone.
I am really glad to have this sorted out. A big shout out to the helpful staff at Bic Camera who probably showed up to work this morning expecting another day of routine sales. They probably had no idea that they would be involved in an international rescue effort!
I did not want to spend another 60000 yen on a cab, so I took the Chikatetsu (Japanese subway) back to my hotel to pick up my belongings. It took me about 20 minutes and costed 220 yen. After the unexpected expense of cab rides and a new phone, I felt great about saving the 59,780 yen! I didn’t care what misfortune the universe was going to throw at me today, I am now armed with a new phone and have a restored sense of direction!